Following the NI Assembly elections in May, Northern Ireland now has its first DUP education minister – Peter Weir. The DUP now oversees every aspect of education from pre-school through to higher education.

As reported in last month’s OCR Policy Briefing, the DUP election manifesto committed to changing the GCSE grading system in Northern Ireland, bringing it in line with reformed GCSEs in England graded 9-1. 

According to the manifesto, the DUP "will make the necessary changes to ensure that [the system] is compatible with the rest of the United Kingdom, and Northern Ireland students will not be at a disadvantage when applying for jobs or university places".